Come In Number 31 – Your Time Is Up!

A coach with 34 Chinese tourists onboard has ended up on a Pattaya beach.

Passengers screamed, with reports some having fainted during the frightening incident as the tour bus careered off course on to the sand around 22:30 last night.

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The bus, which was registered in Bangkok, was travelling down hill when the driver appears to have lost control. It finished its journey in the sea about 50 metres from the road side.

Most of the passengers escaped without injury but a few were treated for minor abrasions or other slight traumas.

The incident occurred in the north of the city on Soi 18 in the Naklua area. When emergency services arrived, they found all 34 passengers still seated on the coach.

Thaweechokchai Plaengthaisong, 49, who was driving the stricken vehicle, told police he was taking the passengers to a massage parlour area of the city. He said the brakes failed to stop the bus on the steep descent.

Despite his best efforts at shifting down the gears in a vain attempt at slowing the bus down, it hit a pick-up and came to rest wheel deep in water on the beach.